There's a New Boy in Town
by TheWittyRomantic
Summary: There's a new boy at Auradon Prep, and he's stirring up trouble between Jay and Carlos. A Jaylos fanfic, with mentions of Ben/Mal and Evie/Doug. Updated every Monday and Thursday.
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes being the son of a super villain sucks. Carlos De Vil, son of Cruella De Vil, knew this better than anyone else he knew. Always misunderstood, avoided, seen as a freak; useless and callous and rotten to the core. He was sick of being an outcast, seen as a no-good misfit. Becoming friends with Jay, Mal, and Evie, fellow children of villains who shared his misery, was the first time he didn't feel alone.

When the Royals decided to invite Carlos to Auradon Prep along with his best friends, he thought that it was finally his chance to do something more, to finally shed the villainous shadow of his mother that followed him everywhere.

For the most part, that had happened, especially for his friends. Mal, once the most villainous of them all, had fallen for the soon-to-be king and led them all to do the right thing at her boyfriend's coronation, earning the trust and respect of their classmates. Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen, finally stopped playing dumb and embraced her knowledge as well as a relationship with Doug, one of the smartest guys in their school, and is now using her fashionista talents to start new trends every day. Even Jay, who was like Carlos's brother and mentor, had won the hearts of the school for both his prowess on the Tourney field and his charming good looks.

Then there was Carlos. Sure, he embraced goodness too, but unlike his friends he hadn't won any sort of grand reputation. He wasn't hot and magical with a royal boyfriend like Mal, he wasn't smart and talented like Evie, and he definitely wasn't charismatic and athletic like Jay. Sure, he'd made the team, but Jay had to pull him out of danger during almost every game and used him as his personal ragdoll on the field. He was completely useless.

Carlos felt more lost and useless than he had on the Isle of the Lost.

Take today for example. It was this season's first game against their fiercest rivals, the Falcons, and Carlos was stuck once again on the bench, watching Jay dance around the field as if he'd been born to play. He vaulted over players with ease, ducking and dodging and flipping across the kill zone with senseless abandon. Carlos cheered and yelled along with the rest of his teammates on the bench and the fans behind them, but he couldn't really help the sinking of his heart, the downward pull of his lips.

Carlos's pride was still smarting from the beginning of the game, when he'd unwittingly passed the ball to their opponents instead of Jay. Coach had called him off the field immediately, and Carlos waved off Jay's protests with his head down, unable to look at him due to his stinging eyes.

Now, however, Carlos grins despite himself as he watches Jay charging towards the Falcon's goalie with a ferociousness that had reduced the knees of some players to putty, but that Carlos and their teammates had come to expect from him. He knew without a doubt that the goalie didn't stand a chance against his best friend.

Sure enough, Jay manages to fake him out last minute and the goalie dives in the wrong direction. The crowd surges to its feet as Jay throws off his helmet, doing a flip. Carlos is off the bench and running towards him with the rest of the team, his heart lifting a little at the joy on Jay's face, but he slows after a few steps, allowing his team time to surround Jay. Ben and Chad lift Jay up on their shoulders, awarding Carlos with the breathtaking view of Jay's face.

Pure happiness. That is what Jay's expression conveys to everyone around them, his face open for the world to see, and all they see is pure, uncensored giddiness.

Carlos had never felt that before, and for a moment Carlos closes his eyes as he realizes with a sudden sense of realization that he is _jealous_. Suddenly the wind is knocked out of his chest and Carlos feels as if someone had plowed into his chest.

Oh wait, they _had_.


	2. Chapter 2

"Carlos, did you see that?" Jay cries in his ear, slinging an arm around his shoulders to pull him tight into Jay's side. Carlos opens his eyes to find Jay's exuberant face inches from his.

"Yeah man, I saw." Carlos grins widely at him, making his freckles stand out more on his cheeks. Despite the way he'd been thinking, he truly felt proud of Jay. Carlos slaps Jay's chest lightly and hoots along with the cheers of the rest of the team, letting Jay know from the look in his eyes exactly what he was feeling, though Carlos himself wasn't fully aware of what that was. Jay's expression changes, his brown eyes getting dark, and then someone calls for victory pizza in Ben's suite after the game, to which Jay can't help but look up with a grin.

"Yes!" Jay calls out, pumping a fist in the air. He jostles Carlos lightly against him as he fist bumps Ethan, the son of Prince Eric and Ariel.

The crowd finally thins and for some reason Carlos's attention is drawn over to where the coach is standing by the sidelines. He watches as a kid in a green Falcon's uniform walks up to him with a monkey hanging off his shoulder. Carlos frowns, but before he can comment Jay jostles him again, drawing his attention to where Mal and Evie are waiting for them on the sidelines.

Ben spots them at the same time, pausing mid-sentence while talking to Chad. He turns away from the clearly insulted prince and runs to Mal, picking her up and spinning her around. Carlos smiles lightly as he watches Ben lean down to give her a kiss only for her to turn her head away with a small blush. While she'd never admit it and they'd never say anything, Carlos, Jay, and Evie knew she was nervous over her first kiss, possibly even afraid.

Jay leaves Carlos to saunter up to them doing Superman poses as Carlos follows behind, laughing at his friend. The others laugh at his posturing and Ben shoves him lightly in the shoulder.

"Hey," he says, "we had something to do with it too, you know."

"Really, I hadn't noticed" Jay teases, at which Carlos punches him lightly on the back. Jay grins but stops gloating, and straightens up instead. He and Ben start walking away discussing the game and weaknesses they'd noticed in the other team to use next time. Mal was pulled along willingly towards the boys locker rooms across the field by Ben, who hadn't released her hand.

Evie and Carlos are left watching them walk away, and so Evie threads her arm through Carlos's with a pleasant smile and the two set off after them at their own pace.

"So, whats wrong?" Evie asks as she smiles and waves at Doug, who is still by the bleachers helping pack up orchestra equipment.

"I don't know what you mean." Carlos says, keeping his eyes glued on Jay's figure ahead of them.

"Don't play dumb with me, I perfected that look." She gives him a sidelong look, which he misses. "Also," she says lightly, "stop staring at Jay's bottom, you're going to start drooling."

Carlos finds himself on the ground before he has the sense to realize that he'd just tripped over his own foot. He stares up at Evie.

"I—I—what?" Carlos sputters.

Evie simply raises an eyebrow as Jay runs back to them and grabs Carlos, whose eyes are still wide and staring at Evie.

"What happened?" Jay demands. He helps Carlos to his feet and immediately begins wiping grass off the back of his jersey. Carlos, whose brain seemed to have stopped working, continues to stare at Evie. She smirks at him.

"We are going to finish this conversation." She warns before flouncing off to save Mal, who is in danger of being dragged into the boys' changing rooms by her oblivious boyfriend.

"Earth to Carlos." A hand waves in front of Carlos's face, almost skimming his nose, and Carlos instinctually snaps out of it to move his head back. He snaps his eyes up to Jay, who's looking down at his stunned friend with a creased brow.

For a reason Carlos does not understand, he finds himself unable to hold the eye contact and looks away with a small blush.

"So, are we going to Ben's party or what?" Jay asks, already looking past him to the boys crowding into the changing room. His face holds an open longing that makes Carlos want to smile and cry at the same time. He sticks with smiling.

"Of course, I would never dream of keeping you away from your victory pizza."

Jay chuckles and throws an arm over Carlos's shoulders once more, dragging him after their teammates.

 _ **Okay, I know the last two chapters were pretty short, but I promise they'll be getting longer! Also, I'm posting every Monday and Thursday. So, who do you think the guy with the monkey is and what does he want? Also, if anyone guesses the monkey's name correctly, I'll do a shout-out to you at the beginning of the next chapter!**_


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, did you hear that someone from the Falcon's team is switching to Auradon next week?" Ethan asks as he squeezes himself between Jay and Carlos, who are sitting on the edge of Ben's bed. Ethan slings an arm over their shoulders with raised eyebrows, his breath smelling strongly of pop.

"No, I hadn't." Jay says, his eyebrows raising with interest. Carlos silently shakes his head, suddenly remembering that kid with the monkey. He assumes that's the boy Ethan is referring to.

"Yeah," Ethan continues, "Chad was with the coach when this kid approached him—the coach—and said that he was impressed with the way we played today. Then he started badmouthing his team all while saying how impressed he was with ours. He asked Coach if he'd be allowed to switch to Auradon to play for our team." Ethan grins, eyebrows raised.

"Who is he?" Carlos asks with a frown.

"Who cares?" Ethan cries. "This is awesome; this is just what we need next time we play the Falcons. We'll have insider access to the way their team works, while gaining a valuable player. I couldn't care less if he came from the Isle of the Lost for Maleficent's sake!" He takes in their expressions and quickly backtracks. "No offense or anything, I'm not saying you guys are bad or anything…I mean..." He scratches the back of his head, mutters something about being thirsty, and quickly squeezes his way back off the bed to head over to the drink table.

Jay and Carlos look at each other with matching frowns. That sounded awfully…strategic for a preppy Auradon prince. Sure, they would have thought the same thing, but that's natural with their backgrounds. They hadn't expected that from anyone at school.

Jay finally shrugs. "He does have a point. The harder we crush the Falcons, the happier I'll be." He grins wolfishly.

Carlos chuckles and shoves him lightly with his shoulder. Carlos supposes that makes sense, and tries to lighten up. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling like he was missing something…

"Hey guys, there's two slices of pizza left. Do you—" Jay reaches out and snatches both pieces from the open box in Ben's hand before the King has a chance to finish. "…want one. I guess that answers my question." Ben grins and awkwardly rubs the back of his head with one hand. Jay grins around a mouthful of pizza.

"Hey, I want a piece too!" Carlos cries, and launches himself at Jay's plate. Jay puts one hand on his head, pushing him away, while holding the slice in his hand in the opposite direction. Carlos pushes forward, grumbling, and Jay opens his mouth full of half-chewed pizza and breaths in his face.

"Ew, Jay, you're dead!" Carlos cries, bringing his hands up to push at his face as Jay continues to hold his away.

The two wrestle for another minute, not even noticing when the plate with the second piece falls out of Jay's lap to the floor, Ben diving in to save the slice for the boys when they're done. He and Ethan share a little smile and shrug as they watch Jay and Carlos wrestle, the former now having the latter pinned beneath him. Jay has Carlos in a greasy headlock, using the wrist of the hand holding the pizza to rub viciously over the top of Carlos's head.

"No, not the hair!" Carlos cries as Jay messes up the gelled curls. "I swear, Jay, if you get pizza in my hair—"

Ben, thinking that was probably as far as he should allow them to go, hands the plate to Chad and cups his hands around his mouth. "Guys!" He shouts. When that doesn't work, he jumps up on the table.

"Jay!" Ben shouts as loud as he can. "Carlos! Stop this instant!"

The boys pause, looking up at him with innocent looks despite their tangled position. Ben fights a smile. Instead he crosses his arms.

"Jay, release Carlos this instant. Save that energy for practice tomorrow."

The team lets out a collective groan, because that means there actually _will_ be a practice tomorrow. Jay and Carlos sit up with red faces.

"Hey, now." Ben frowns. "As I'm sure you've all heard, there's a new transfer student coming to Auradon Prep next week, and he's already requested he be able to join the team. Coach talked to me after the game today—why I was late to the celebrations—to inform me of what's going on. He'll be starting here on Monday, two days from now, and Coach agreed to treat today's game as his tryout and has already let him onto the team. We need to be a strong, united front when that happens." Ben looks around at each and every one of them, letting them know how serious he is.

They all nod back at him.

Carlos is frowning, but when he glances at Jay he can see the excited gleam in his eyes, despite the serious face.

Ben steps down from the table and their teammates take that as a sign to go back to their celebrations. He walks over to Jay and Carlos, his expression serious.

"Quite the speech, Captain." Jay jokes when Ben steps in front of him.

"So, are you going to tell us who he is or what?" Carlos asks, tensing at Ben's flinch.

"Actually, that's why I came over here. I didn't want to tell you until after, but…" He looks at them both nervously, before settling his eyes firmly on Jay. His lips thin. "The transfer student is Al, son of Prince Aladdin and Princess Jasmine."

 _ **Great job to everyone who guessed the new student would be Aladdin's son! However, those of you who guessed Abu are sadly mistaken, you'll have to wait until next Monday to find out the monkey's name! Stay tuned, next chapter will be posted this Thursday!**_


	4. Chapter 4

"So, how's Jay doing?" Evie asks the next day at lunch. Carlos and Evie are sitting alone at one of the picnic tables, as Jay had been pulled into a meeting with the Coach and Fairy Godmother—presumably to make sure he wouldn't cause trouble with the new kid—and Ben and Mal had gone off somewhere for a date.

Carlos shrugs. Jay had been really quiet all night, pretending to be asleep, and when Carlos had woken up this morning, he was already gone.

"I honestly don't know." Carlos doesn't look up from his food, sticking his fork into his chocolate cover strawberries without actually eating any. "I'm guessing not very well, considering the fact that he's avoiding talking about it. That's not really a good sign of coping, is it?" He bites his lip to keep it from trembling. It had been a long time since Jay had frozen him out like this. The last time Carlos could remember, Jafar had demanded Jay steal the Evil Queen's mirror. Jay had disappeared for a week on the Isle, and Carlos never did find out where he'd gone.

"Hey…" Evie puts her hand beneath Carlos's chin and lifts it gently. Her face is soft, graced with a tiny smile. "It'll be alright, don't look like that."

"I'm fine." Carlos moves his hand out of her grip and looks back down at his plate.

"Of course you are." Evie sighs and sits back. "I know you better than that, hun." Then she mutters to herself. "Even better than you know yourself, when it comes to some things."

"What was that?" Carlos looks up, his nose scrunched.

"Nothing, nothing." Evie smiles and plays with her hair, and old habit Carlos knew she used to distract guys from what she was saying. He narrows his eyes. "Don't look at me like that Carlos, you'll get wrinkles." She smiles and blinks innocently.

"You sound like your mother." Carlos mutters with a scowl. Evie gasps in offense and Carlos glances up to see genuine hurt on her face. "Sorry, low blow." He mutters, his heart sinking. He wondered what was getting into him.

"Look Carlos, I know you're worried about Jay and everything, but you shouldn't take it out on me." Evie frowns at him, sitting straight.

"I know Evie, I'm sorry." He slouches and pushes his food away. He isn't very hungry anymore. Evie huffs and relaxes a little.

"You're too adorable to stay mad at." She grouses. "Besides," She perks up suddenly, a familiar and mischievous gleam in her eyes. "We still have to continue that little conversation we had yesterday."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Carlos narrows his eyes. "Besides," he mutters under his breath, "me falling on my ass doesn't really constitute a conversation."

"Don't be silly, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You mooning over Jay all lunch is just further proving my point."

"I have not been _mooning_! Mooning implies romantic feelings." Carlos sets his chin.

"Exactly." Evie smirks as if he had just proven her point.

"I do not have feelings for Jay!" Carlos cries, louder than intended, and he suddenly hears bursts of laughter from the tables around them. Carlos's ears turn red, and he refuses to turn around to look. Instead he narrows his eyes at Evie. "I do not have feelings for Jay. He is my best friend, he's practically my brother. Same with you and Mal, the four of us are family."

"He is nothing like family, not for a while now at least. Your feelings stopped being brotherly when it came to him a long time ago. Sure, to me and Mal you're family, as is Jay. But to each other…not so much." She purses her lips as Carlos just stares at her. "Come on, Carlos. Can you really be so blind to your emotions? You're ten times more physical with each other than with anyone else, you're face lights up like the sun every time you see him, I've caught you staring at his bottom more than once, and you _wolf whistled_ at him the first time he ever wore his jersey."

Carlos opens and closes his mouth, his eyes looking slightly glazed. In reality, he was wonder, could it be possible. Could he actually be interested in Jay?

Looking back, he never had been interested in any of the girls on the Isle, or in Auradon for that matter. There had also been that one instance when Hank, the son of Captain Hook, had flirted with him at a party and he'd ended up kissing him by the end of the night. Still, feelings like that were forbidden.

But Jay, he'd always been different. Carlos knew for a fact he had a history with both girls _and_ boys. Jay had always been comfortable with more contact than others, and he'd made Carlos be okay with it too. Jay was the only one Carlos really had any comfort touching, and he supposes he perhaps does so more than could be considered _normal_.

Carlos had also found himself blushing around Jay a lot more often, and sure, Jay certainly was handsome. Was it weird that Carlos thought that?

Did it mean Carlos liked him?

"Hey, there's the Coach." Evie's voice brings him out of his musings, and he looks up to see that she is right, the Coach is striding across the lawn by the main buildings.

"Jay must be out of his meeting then." Carlos looks around but doesn't spot him. "I need to talk to Jay; I'll find you later, okay?" Carlos dashes off before she can answer, leaving a smirking Evie and his food behind.

Carlos assumes that Jay must still be by the admissions building, where the Fairy Godmother's office is. Rounding the corner of the building, a slight giggling sound draws his attention to the row of bushes by the wall.

A couple stands mostly obscured by the garden, wrapped in each other's arms. The girl leans against the wall as he nuzzles her neck, and a motion draws Carlos's wide eyes to his hand, which is slipping under the hem of her bright pink blazer. The guy turns his head slightly, and Carlos draws in a harsh breath.

It's Jay and Audrey.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Happy Monday! Also good luck to anyone who, like me, is going back to school for another school year tomorrow! I will continue to post on Mondays and Thursdays as long as possible through the school year, and let you know if that ever changes. For now, enjoy my longest chapter yet, and don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comment/review section!_**

Carlos is sprawled out on his bed staring at the ceiling with Dude at his side when Jay gets back later that night. They hadn't spoken all day, so Jay hadn't found out that Carlos had seen him with Audrey. Carlos had decided it was for the better: as he figures out his feelings, it's best the tow of them act the same as they always had.

Besides, it is clear to Carlos that whatever feelings he may harbour for Jay, Jay most certainly doesn't reciprocate.

Carlos doesn't react to Jay's entrance, making Jay pause in the doorway to stare at him.

"Hey man," Jay says, furrowing his brow. Carlos doesn't react, only reaching one hand down to stroke Dude's fur, not sure if it's to soothe himself or the dog.

"Did something happen today?" Jay tries again.

"Nope."

Jay walks over to the side of Carlos's bed to stare down at him. Carlos tries to decide what colour the ceiling is. Off-white? Very pale beige?

"Look, man, if this is about this morning, I'm sorry okay?" He sighs and runs a hand through his long hair. "I admit, I didn't handle the news well, but I shouldn't have shut you out. That wasn't right of me." He makes a sound in the back of his throat, almost a groan, and sinks down to sit on the edge of the bed.

Carlos rolls his eyes over to look at him. Jay's face is open and earnest.

"I'm sorry Carlos, I really am."

Carlos shuts his eyes against the pleading look on Jay's face. He fights against a newfound awareness of his fluttering stomach, and then offers Jay a weak smile.

"I know man. I get it, it's hard." He swallows deeply. "I may have been a little hurt that you'd shut me out. You haven't done that in a long time." It was true. It just wasn't the whole truth.

He looks away again and blinks. Every time his eyes close, that afternoon flashes through his mind.

"I won't do it again. Promise." Jay bumps Carlos in the shoulder. "We good?"

Carlos looks back at him, smiling a little wider. "Of course."

Jay smiles and stands up again to use the washroom.

Carlos tries to convince himself that he doesn't miss the absence of Jay's body heat beside him. He closes his eyes again, but quickly opens them. He sighs and steels himself for a long, sleepless night.

When Jay comes back he's changed and ready for bed, though he finds Carlos unmoved. Jay ignores this, leaving him to his thoughts, and pulls back the covers to climb in, turning out the light.

For a few minutes the room is quiet, the only sounds Carlos can hear are those of Jay's soft sighs and Dude's snores. Jay turns over once, and then his breathing is even. Carlos assumes he has fallen asleep, and thinks as he had many times in the past of how jealous he is of how quickly Jay is able to fall asleep.

He thinks.

He wonders why seeing Jay and Audrey together hurt him so much. He tells himself it's because Jay had to choose Audrey; of all the girls, or boys, he could have chosen, he had to choose the stuck-up princess that happened to hate their best friend. He could be offended simply because he's Mal's best friend.

That was it, he was sure of it.

But…what if it wasn't?

/

Jay and Carlos have Tourney practice the next morning after breakfast. They had forgotten their differences from the previous day and had laughed and wrestled their way through the kitchens and down to the Tourney field.

However, whenever Jay looked away, Carlos's smile would dim and a small shadow seemed to cross his eyes. The only one to notice was Evie, and she had deemed it best that she not interfere. She'd placed the groundwork for the boys, they could figure the rest out themselves.

Now down on the Tourney field, Ben is leading the boys through some basic warm ups when Ethen suddenly calls out.

"Hey, look!" He yells. The rest of the team stops and follows the direct of his wide gaze to see Coach coming out of the change rooms with a strange person. Carlos recognizes the boy that he had seen after they beat the Falcons. Jay tenses at his side.

Al had shown up to practice.

At that moment a small brown animal streaks out of the building and hops up onto the boy's shoulder. Al strokes the chattering monkey's chin gently with two fingers without breaking his conversation with their coach.

Now that he's closer, Carlos is able to make out more detail than he had before. Al's skin is only slightly darker than Jay's, a fact most people probably wouldn't even notice, and he has a straight nose and smiling brown eyes. His dark brown hair is shorter than Jay's by an inch or two, not quite touching his shoulders, but also thick and slightly wavy whereas Jay's is straight. His build is slim, but muscles are clearly visible in his arms and legs. His features are angular, with pronounced cheekbones and a strong jaw. The smile looks natural on his face, and a small dimple peaks out at them from his left cheek.

Carlos figures he could be considered quite handsome.

He and the coach stop a few feet away from the team, and Coach turns to smile broadly at them.

"Boys, meet Al, our newest player." He claps a hand on Al's unoccupied shoulder. "I know he doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but I wanted you all to meet him first. He'll spend today's practice with me, observing from the bleachers. Ben will lead today's practice." He looks over at Ben, who steps forward.

"Welcome, welcome." He opens his arms wide and smiles at Al. "On behalf of the team, and all of the students at Auradon Prep, I would like to welcome you to the team. I am so glad you're here. My name is Ben, as you already know, and this is your new team." Ben lists off all of their names quickly, tossing Jay and Carlos into the middle and speeding on. Ben noticeably—at least to them—leaves out everyone's last names and titles.

Al smiles at them all, his face as open and preppy as Carlos had started to expect from all of the residents of Auradon.

"Hey guys, it's great to meet you all. As you know, I'm Al, and this little miscreant—" he scratches the monkey's chin again, "is Abby." The monkey lets out a little screech at them, bouncing on his shoulder. Al smiles at her before looking over at the rest of them. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm here, so I might as well be upfront. You guys were amazing in Friday's game. I know our schools were fierce rivals, but you guys totally dominated us in that game, and I heard you did in the last as well. I'm sorry to say I was travelling last time our two teams played, so I hadn't had the pleasure. I'm sure I would have switched long before if I had." He smiles.

Carlos is distracted by this new fact. If he'd hadn't been in the first game the two schools had played, when Jay and Carlos had first arrived, that might mean he didn't know who they were. He can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad one.

"Alright." The coach claps his hands loudly. "Back to practice, ladies!" He jogs off the field and the team disperses, a few of the boys going up to shake Al's hand. Jay and Carlos look at each other and shrug, turning away. They don't want to push their luck.

"Hey, wait." A hand reaches out and touches Jay's shoulder. They turn with wary faces to see Al's smiling face. "You're Jay right? I just wanted to say you were awesome in Friday's game. You must be Auradon's star player, right?"

Chad laughs from behind them, sauntering up to clap a hand on Al's shoulder. "As if." He smirks at the boys with gleaming eyes. "These two are newbies too. Didn't you hear about Ben's proclamation while you were away?"

Al looks confused and shakes his head.

"Ben wanted to give the poor children of villains a second chance and so he invited four to come stay and study here. Carlos and Jay here are from the Isle of the Lost. Don't you recognize Jay, Al?" The gleam in Chad's eyes brightens as he smiles in a way that would make the Cheshire cat, and his daughter, Chelsie, jealous. Al looks back and forth between the two of them, his back straightening. Jay is tense beside Carlos, who rests a light hand on the small of his back.

"Jay here is the son of Jafar."


	6. Chapter 6

"Jay here is the son of Jafar."

Chad's words echo between them all for a second, everyone watching the others' reactions. Chad stands there with his arms folded across his chest with a smug smirk, Jay is tense with crossed arms staring at Al, Carlos is hovering very close to Jay's side ready to jump in to defend him, and Al stands there, the smile gone, staring Jay in the face.

Everything happens in a heartbeat.

A shadow passes across Al's eyes, too fast for any of them to really see.

Ben notices the exchange and runs over with a worried face.

Al steps forward and lifts his hand.

Chad steps back to watch his masterpiece unfold.

Carlos steps in front of Jay and pushes him behind him.

Ben puts a hand on Al's shoulder.

And Al smiles.

"Whoa there," Al smiles at Carlos and lifts his hands in the air. "I was just gonna shake his hand." Carlos stares at him with a creased brow, still blocking anyone's path to Jay without realizing it. Behind him, Jay's body is still tensed, but he bites his lip in hesitation.

Chad is now frowning, though nobody notices him.

"Everything okay?" Ben asks cautiously, looking between Al and the two tense boys.

"Yeah, man, we're cool here." Al says to Ben. He turns to Jay and Carlos. "Look, you're not your parents, I get it. I'm not my dad either, or my mom for that matter. Ancient history, yeah?" He holds his hand out again, staring at Jay over Carlos's shoulder. Carlos slowly lowers his arms and Jay steps around him, clasping Al's hand in his own. He smiles slightly.

"I'm really glad to hear that, man." Jay sighs in relief and pumps Al's hand ones, before pulling him in to slap him on the back. Carlos stays frowning as the two of them step apart once more. It didn't feel right. Carlos grabs Jay's arm to hold on to him a little, not taking his eyes off of Al. Al turns and smirks at him, his smile firmly in place.

"So, whose kid are you then, if you're both from the Isle?" Al's face is clear when his says it, but the way he stares at Carlos makes him a little nervous. His lips thin and he says nothing.

Jay knocks his shoulder into Carlos's, looking down at him with a worried expression. Carlos still doesn't answer, so Jay answers for him.

"Carlos de Vil, son of Cruella de Vil."

Al smiles widely and leans forward to grasp his and Jay's shoulders. "Well, isn't that great. I'm sure this place must be a real change of pace for the two of you, huh?"

Jay snorts. "Is it ever. Man, you have no clue, this place is awesome, I'm sure it's not that much of a change for you being a prince and all, but you'll like it here."

"I'm sure I will. And," he says grandly, "I'm sure we'll all become the best of friends, now, won't we?"

"Yeah, of course." Jay slaps his shoulder, nearly vibrating with his barely concealed energy and left-over adrenaline.

The monkey on Al's shoulder, which had been pretty much forgotten, suddenly chatters at Al, jumping up and down. Carlos isn't very familiar with monkeys, but this one is clearly agitated about something. Carlos would go so far as saying it looks angry. The monkey pulls on Al's hair.

"Ouch." Al glares at the monkey and speaks to it quietly but sternly. "Abby, enough, we'll talk when we get back to our room."

Carlos glances at Jay to see what he thinks of the exchange. Jay is frowning slightly, but still looking relaxed. Ben's eyes are narrowed as well. Chad is studying his fingernails.

"Hey, aren't we supposed to be practicing?" Ethan suddenly yells at them from down the field. He waves his arms. "Come on, ladies; get your butts in gear!"

Jay smirks, slapping Carlos on the back and pulling him into his side. "You heard him, come on!" He pulls Carlos away towards Ethan.

Al watches them go, and Ben watches Al.

"So was I the only one that saw that?" Al raises an eyebrow, his eyes not leaving Jay and Carlos. Jay has Carlos by the hand to drag him across the field, and neither seems to notice. When they stop by Ethan, Jay pulls Carlos into his side and Carlos's arm hovers by his back until he shoves Jay away. Jay punches him in the side of the head before turning to Ethan. There's only an inch of space between them, clear even from across the field, though they're not touching or even paying any attention to each other.

"Saw what?" Chad snaps, glancing back up. He seems to be on the verge of pouting.

Al waves a hand at Jay and Carlos. "Come on guys, Jay and Carlos. Is there something there or…" He raises and eyebrow.

Ben smiles at him, relaxing a little. This is familiar territory. Chad snorts.

"Yeah," Ben says with a grin, looking fondly across the field. "It's pretty much obvious to us that there's something there, though they're both too blind to see it."

"Or too dumb." Chad mutters. Al hears him because he's standing next to Chad, but Ben doesn't, so he pretends he didn't either.

"Hey, the guys actually have a bit of a bet going about it." Ben says with a laugh. "You can join in if you want." He slaps Al on the shoulder lightly. When Al continues to stare at the boys across the field Ben starts to frown again and studies his face. Al isn't quite smiling any more, his eyes narrowed at Jay's back. Moving his eyes down, Ben sees his clenched fists and his gut twists. He clasps his hand on Al's shoulder and shakes it a little to draw the other boy's attention.

"You're sure you're okay?" Ben asks, his face cautious. Al turns to smile at him.

"Yeah man, water under the bridge."

Ben smiles too, though his eyes remain narrowed ever so slightly, invisible to Chad and Al. "That's great to hear. Anyway, I gotta go lead this practice, and I think Coach is waiting for you on the bleachers. Come on, Chad." Ben gestures for the silent prince to follow before jogging down the field, blowing his whistle.

Chad takes a step to follow, and then turns to Al, walking backwards as he talks.

"You're really okay with this? Dude, after everything your parents went through, you'll leave it at that?" He looks incredulous.

"Of course not." Al says, before turning to join the coach.


	7. Chapter 7

Later than night Jay and Carlos met Mal and Evie in their room. Mal is sitting on the bed reading through her mother's book of spells (just because she's decided to be good doesn't mean she's not still fascinated with them) and Evie is sitting at her sewing machine as per usual. Evie glances up at them with a quick smile, but Mal hops up and gives them a quick hug.

"Gosh, I feel like I haven't seen you two in days!" She cries, before composing herself and sitting back on the edge of the bed. She gives them a stern look, pursing her purple-tinted lips. "I'm especially mad at you, Jay, for avoiding us yesterday. We were all very put out."

Evie glances up with a raised eyebrow. "Well I-" Mal shushes her with a glare, and Evie ducks her head back to her sewing.

"Aw, sorry Mal." He flops onto the bed with his signature grin. "I won't do it again, promise."

She fights to hold onto her glare, before flicking her chin in a little 'I don't care either way' move and goes back to flipping through the book, though now she's just trying to act aloof rather than actually reading. Jay grins and nudges her shoulder before flipping over onto his back with his hands behind his head. His jersey top, which he wears most of the time over top of his normal clothes, rides up a little, revealing a thin line of skin between its hem and the edge of his red leather pants.

Carlos flops on the floor at the foot of Evie's bed and focuses on Dude, who jumps into his lap and twists around between settling down across his legs. Carlos strokes gently across the top of his head, eliciting a soft sigh from the dog.

"So does Dude need any more outfits, Carlos?" Evie glances between him and her sewing with a smile.

"Not for the moment, though I was thinking about making him a mini Tourney jersey." He smiles down at the dog in his lap, already able to envision him in the adorable outfit.

"Ooh," Evie claps a little. "That would be so adorable! I'll get to work as soon as you show me the design." She squirms with excitement and Carlos gives her a lopsided grin.

Mal snorts. "Sometimes I think you're more of a villain than the rest of us, Carlos, forcing him to wear those outfits." She smiles at him though, so he knows there's no malice behind her words. Still, he frowns, looking put-out.

"I'll have you know Dude loves his outfits, and I think he looks adorable in them." He raises his chin, and the dog sits up to lick it. Carlos lets out a small giggle and the dog settles back down happily. "See, he agrees." Mal smiles at them.

"So, how was practice?" Mal asks. She hadn't had a chance to see Ben yet, and he usually told her all about it.

"It was interesting." Jay says, his eyes closed now and his face relaxed as he lounges on Mal's bed. "Al showed up."

"What?" Mal and Evie yell, looking alarmed. They stare at him with wide eyes.

"Why?" Mal asks him, very pale. She examines his face very carefully, and Carlos imagines her scanning him for sign of injury and evidence of a fight. His relaxed face keeps her from becoming too worried, however.

Jay shrugs. "Coach wanted us to meet him first, and give him a chance to see how we work together by watching us from the bleachers."

Mal and Evie continue to look at him. When he doesn't expand, they look to Carlos. He stares down at Dude, a small frown on his face.

"He seemed nice enough, I suppose. Chad decided to out Jay the first chance he got, so we got passed the whole Jay's-the-son-of-your-parents'-sworn-enemy thing pretty soon off. We all kinda expected him to react badly, but he just shook Jay's hand and said he knew we weren't our parents so he held no ill will towards any of us. Then he said he hoped we'd be the best of friends, and then we went to practice. He stayed and watched-along with his weird little monkey-but left right when Ben called an end to practice."

"Well that's great!" Evie smiles at them. Mal rolls her eyes.

"What else would you expect? He's a prince in Auradon; they're all hopelessly ridiculous and preppy and cheery. And don't forget Aladdin was a street-rat before he married Jasmine."

"That's exactly what he said!" Jay says, thrusting his fist up. "Also," he cracks one eye open and glances down at Carlos, "the monkey wasn't that weird. I mean, sure, the fact that he has a pet monkey is a little strange, but I thought she was cute. Did you notice she had a little pink bow on her tail?" He smiles and closes his eyes again.

"Yeah, I did." Carlos mutters, his eyes boring a hole in the top of Dude's head.

Mal and Evie share a look. "What's wrong?" Mal asks him.

Carlos shrugs, not looking up. "Nothing."

Mal and Evie don't look convinced, but know that they shouldn't push it. Instead, Mal asks Evie about Doug and the four of them settle down for the first time that weekend and just relax.

/

When it's starting to get late, Jay gets up and says he's going to head to bed.

"You coming dude? And Dude?" Jay smiles at his own joke while looking down at Carlos expectantly. Evie catches his eye behind Jay's back, and Carlos shakes his head.

"I'm gonna hang here for a few more minutes, wait and see if Dude wakes up." The dog had fallen asleep on his lap, lulled to unconsciousness by Carlos's soothing hands. "If he doesn't wake up in fifteen I'll carry him."

Jay shrugs and says goodnight to the girls, yelling out a final goodbye as the door closes behind him. Carlos sighs, leaning his head back on the bed behind him and closing his eyes. When he opens them again, Evie is crouching down in front of him. He's too tired to do much more than raise an eyebrow.

"So, what's going on?" Mal asks, flopping on the bed above him. She leans over the edge to look down at the top of his head and then leans her chin on his shoulder. Evie settles down, brushing her skirt underneath her and tucking her legs in.

Carlos shrugs again, feigning innocence.

"Don't even try it," Mal says as he opens his mouth to deny her statement.

"You've been off since Al was brought up." Evie adds. "You don't like him?"

"Did he do something?" Mal's voice gets the low, dangerous tone he remembers from the island.

"No, I just…" Carlos hesitates. "I just have this feeling. He doesn't feel right."

"If you're really worried, why don't you search him up on your laptop, see what you can find? Put that genius brain of yours to good use." Mal rubs the top of his head, and he swats her hand away. He considers what she said and wonders why he hadn't thought of that. Jay and Al really had his head scrambled.

"Pass it to me." Carlos says to Evie, waving at the laptop sitting atop her sewing desk. She grabs it and sets it in front of him. Dude wakes up when Carlos shifts his weight and climbs off his lap, so Carlos lifts the laptop onto his knees.

After a few minutes, Carlos has pulled up every social media page he can find on Al, biting his lip.

"Well?" Evie raises an eyebrow. Carlos sighs.

"All I can find are posts about travelling and Tourney and jokes with his old friends. He also posts a lot of pictures of Abby and the places he's been."

"That's it? That's not really incriminating, is it?" Mal asks, though it's not really a question. Carlos sighs again and shuts the laptop.

"No."

Evie looks at him sadly. "I know what it was like on the Isle of the Lost, I know how hard it is to trust people. But people here aren't like the people there, they're actually mostly good, _really good_. Revenge and horrible deeds are foreign to them. This guy's grown up with everything he's ever wanted, been loved and gone to school, and been a normal kid. If he wasn't a good person, Auradon Prep never would have accepted him. He has no reason to be untrustworthy." She rubs his leg. "So relax, okay?"

Carlos smiles at her, relaxing a little. "Okay."


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning the Fairy Godmother officially introduced Al to the school as its newest student and addition to the Tourney Team. Jay and Carlos had no morning classes with him, but Mal and Evie were both quick to inform them that he was in theirs. He sat across the room from them next to Chad, but they reported that he seemed nice when asked to stand up and address the class. Oh, and the monkey went everywhere with him, given a pass to go to class as long as Abby stayed on his shoulder and proved not to be a distraction.

The girls met them at their usual table, excited to gush everything they'd learned.

"You were so right, Jay, Abby is adorable!" Evie gushed as soon as Jay and Carlos sat down opposite them.

Jay smiled. "Right?" He asked, opening a fruit cup. Carlos smiled at Evie, because when he actually thought about it, she was rather adorable. He wondered how Dude would react to her.

"He seems really nice." Mal said, taking a bite out of her strawberry. She closed her eyes in happiness for a second. "He came up to us after class to introduce himself. He said Chad had pointed us out during the lesson and he wanted to come over and introduce himself, and let us know very quickly that he thought what Ben had done was great, and he's in total agreement that we deserve a chance like anyone else."

"He said he loved my dress." Evie said, staring up dreamily.

"No," Mal smirked. "He said he'd never seen anyone look so radiant in leather, and where ever did you get that dress because he just had to give the designer to his mother." She winked at the boys and Evie sighed, a wide grin on her face.

"He's very polite. He also said he loved the colour of my hair." She fluffed up the short strands with a soft, faraway look on her face.

Carlos smiles in amazement. In a matter of minutes Al had managed to completely win over his best friends. Jay knocks his shoulder into Carlos's, smiling down at him.

"See, told you he was great." Jay says with a grin, staring down into Carlos's eyes. Carlos gulps, for a moment just letting himself look at Jay's beautiful brown eyes before looking down at his tray, shifting in his seat. He shrugs, still not able to quite wipe the grin off his face. He feels more relaxed than he had in days.

"Yeah, he's okay." Carlos concedes. Jay slings an arm over his shoulder with a chuckle.

Carlos's stomach twists and he thinks once again about what Evie had said, and what he had realized. He'd been unable to sleep last night, tossing and turning in bed until the early hours of the morning, thinking back over the past years of his and Jay's friendship.

It was true, Carlos got butterflies in his stomach and resisted the urge to blush every time Jay touched him; he felt more for him than he had anyone else, and he could see his physical attraction. But more than that, Jay was family. He was constant, he was loving, he was caring, and he was Carlos's best friend and sole defender when it came to most situations. Plus he was funny, charming, and skilled at most things athletic.

How could Carlos not have fallen in love with him?

Because, Carlos had realized that night, that was exactly what he had done. He had gone and fallen in love with his best friend.

As Carlos sits with his best friend's arm over his shoulder, he thinks of what he had seen of Jay in the bushes on Saturday. Jay with his arms wrapped around Audrey in a lover's embrace. Jay with a girl. Jay not with Carlos.

Because that's exactly what Jay is. He doesn't belong with Carlos, because how could he? Carlos is the awkward, useless son of an insane villain, and Jay is the popular and skilled son of a less-insane villain. Jay, with his amazing personality, had managed to win over almost an entire school and become an amazing person while he was at it. Carlos, on the other hand, was still mostly ignored, known as the villain kid with the dog, friend of Mal, Evie, and Jay. He didn't have the talent, the charm, or the skill in anything.

He truly is useless. And that's the only thing he's ever going to be.

/

Carlos had long lost his appetite by the time Ben joins them at the table, plopping down right next to Mal and kissing her on the cheek. She smiles and sinks into him, and for a moment Carlos feels a genuine pang of horrible jealousy over Mal. She'd managed to find the love of her life, an amazing guy who completely adored her and wasn't afraid to show it. Was that really too much to ask for?

"Mind if I join you?" A soft but distinctly male voice asks from behind them. Carlos and Jay turn their heads to find Al standing with his tray, smiling down at Carlos. He's standing directly between the two, despite the space on either side, so Carlos slowly slips away from Jay, letting Al squeeze between them. The new boy doesn't hesitate, plopping down between them and surreptitiously nudging Jay's tray away to make room for his own.

Abby is suddenly inches from Carlos's face, as she had been sitting on Al's shoulder when he sat down. The monkey chatters excitedly at him and he can't help but smile. He cautiously holds up a piece of his fruit and the excited animal snatches it out of his hand before jumping onto Carlos's shoulder and climbing down his arm to the table top.

"Abby!" Al admonishes. "Manners!"

Carlos chuckles, already liking her. "It's alright, I don't mind." He says, meeting Al's smiling eyes.

"That's good." Al says softly, not breaking eye contact.

Jay clears his throat on Al's other side, slapping his back. "So, you ready for Tourney practice this afternoon?"

Al's eyes move away from Carlos slowly, in a way that has him blushing for some reason. He looks away towards the girls, but Mal is busy giggling and blushing at something Ben is whispering in her ear, and Evie is flipping through a fashion magazine. He's sort of glad they're not paying attention. Carlos absentmindedly gives Abby another piece of his fruit.

"What about you, Carlos?"

Carlos startles at his name and glances over to see Al's smiling face.

"Sorry, what?" He blushes harder.

"I asked if you're looking forward to practice." Al says with a chuckle.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess." Carlos shrugged with a small smile.

Al raised an eyebrow. "That's not very enthusiastic. Don't you love the rush of adrenaline playing gives you?" He scans Carlos's face. Carlos shrugs once more.

"I don't play that much, I'm not exactly the best player on the team. It's fun to watch and be a part of, though." Carlos isn't sure what exactly compels him to tell Al the truth when he'd never even acknowledged it to Jay, but it felt right. Al stared at him imperceptibly for a moment before wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"Aw, I'm sure you're great. So, what else do you do for fun?"

/

Al and Carlos spent almost the entire lunch period talking. Al was constantly asking Carlos questions about himself, seeming really interested in his answers. Carlos, initially wary, warmed up to him quickly when the questions remained harmless. Al even showed him some of the tricks Abby could do, having her walk on her hands, clap, and pick which hand he was hiding a marble in. Carlos and Al were quickly laughing together over Abby, which she seemed to love.

If Jay began to withdraw into himself, neither of them noticed. After a few minutes Evie looked up from her magazine to talk with him, but before that Jay had attempted to join in their conversation multiple times. At first it worked for a few minutes, though Al always managed to bring the conversation around to Carlos. After a while Al stopped even looking over at Jay when he spoke, instead keeping his eyes trained on Carlos. Carlos found the constant eye contact difficult to keep, but flattering at the same time to know that someone was actually interested in anything about him.

Carlos quickly came to see what Mal and Evie had been talking about the night before in their room. Al had a certain charm about him, very different than Jay's but with the same alluring effect on people that made them open up and relax around them.

They said goodbye reluctantly, standing up without going anywhere and just staring at each other shyly before Ben unwrapped himself from Mal and came to take Al to his next class. Jay and Carlos had gone through the rest of their classes silently, each lost in thought.

/

That afternoon, Al is one of the first to arrive at practice, finding Chad helping the coach set up. Al jogs over to him quickly, glancing around to see if the others had arrived yet.

Chad looks at him sullenly. "How was lunch with those losers? I can't believe you'd ditch me to hang with them."

Al looks at him sharply. "I told you what I was doing. Stop acting like a spoiled prince."

"But I am a spoiled prince." Chad smirks, stepping closer. Al smirks down at him.

"Mmm, maybe not spoiled enough." He mutters, flicking his eyes down to Chad's lips.

Chad smirks up at him, and Al leans down to whisper something in his ear that makes Chad squirm, looking up at him with dilated eyes. Al steps back and crosses his arms with a smug stare.

Yelling across the field draws their attention and they realize some of the other players are starting to arrive. Al suddenly looks at Chad.

"Say, how good is Carlos at Tourney?"

Chad shrugs. "The kid sucks. Coach puts him on though because Jay has some weird thing with him being his brain or something. He does anything to keep Jay's game up." The scowl is back. Al ignores it, sticking to the first part but storing that information away for later.

"Interesting…." He ponders something, a grin slowly growing on his face.

"What?" Chad asks, leaning forward with wide eyes.

"I have an idea. Come here…"

/

After practice, Al and Carlos are walking into the changing room after the other boys, having volunteered to help pack up the equipment. They're talking quietly when they hear voices around the corner, close to them and apart from the main room. Carlos raises his eyebrows when he recognizes Jay and Chad's voices.

Chad says something they don't hear and the two of them round the corner just in time to hear Jay's reply.

"Fine!" He growls. "Carlos isn't good at Tourney. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Carlos doesn't get to hear the response, the blood ringing through his ears. Al clears his throat and Jay turns to see him, his eyes widening. Jay reaches out to him, but Carlos has already turned away, sprinting back through the door and across the field.

Al runs after him.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Slight trigger warning for self-hate/depression/mental breakdown**_

Carlos runs blindly out the doors and across the Tourney field, Jay's words echoing through his head. His eyes blur and his breathing comes in harsh breaths, and he runs faster than he had before. He hears nothing but the sound of his heart breaking in his chest, the surety of Jay's voice when he proclaimed Carlos's worthlessness.

He runs faster.

He hears Jay saying he's useless, over and over again.

He hears the coach asking him if he'd ever thought about joining band.

He hears the laughter of his teammates, Jay's the loudest of them all.

He hears the coach telling him to sit on the bench.

You're useless, they tell him. You're a no-good son of a villain; you're worthless; you're a failure.

He hears his mother's voice, calling him pet and giving him a list of things to do.

He hears his mother's laughter when he cried.

He hears his mother's shrill voice calling him useless when he said he didn't want to wash her, clothe her, and scrub her feet. His mother saying he was no better than a dog.

He hears the laughter of his classmates on the Isle when he wasn't bad enough.

He hears the students at Auradon Prep laugh because he wasn't good enough.

Carlos hears it all like an endless cycle through his head.

Not enough, not enough, not enough.

Useless, useless, useless.

/

Al catches up with Carlos by the time he reached the picnic tables. He watches as Carlos's legs falter, as he slowly slips to the ground and stays on his hands and knees, his hands balled into fists and his forehead in the dirt. He hears the sobs, and then the screams.

Carlos screams as he beats his fists on the ground, the most heart-wrenching, broken sound Al has ever heard. Suddenly Al's face is pale and he is swaying as he watches the rawest display of human despair he had ever witnessed. So much despair and anguish bottled up inside of Carlos, so much anger and pain and betrayal.

A tear slips down Al's face, and he sees the situation before him as he had not before.

Because he had seen hints of this anguish in his parents before. He had heard his father yelling in the night from nightmares of Al's beloved mother being captured and tortured and put under Jafar's spell. As a boy he had listened to his father sob in the other room as his mother struggled to comfort him, choked by her own fear. He had heard his mother's sobs when she too had nightmares of becoming a slave to Jafar. He had seen the sadness in their eyes when they thought he wasn't looking, had grown used to the faraway look they would get in their eyes.

They had never let it out like this. But it was the same, broken suffering.

Jay had caused this pain. Just as the father had caused Al's parents so much anguish, the son would now cause the same to this small boy in front of him.

Al is no longer just avenging his parents. He will avenge the tormentor of Carlos as well.

/

By the time Carlos became conscious of his surroundings his voice had gone hoarse. Slowly the pain had receded as he screamed until nothing was left inside but a dull, empty exhaustion. He slumps completely to the ground, uncaring of the dirt or of where he is. He just wants to go to sleep and never wake up.

Someone reaches out their fingers and gently wipes away his tears. Carlos's eyes open slowly but he can't bring himself to flinch or move away, he simply looks up at a silently crying Al, who strokes away his tears gently. Al's face is soft, his eyes wide and heavy, his cheeks damp. Carlos closes his eyes.

Arms slide under his shoulders and he is being cradled in Al's lap, his cheek against soft cottony shorts. Some warmth begins to seep in again as Al's fingers sooth across his forehead.

"He's wrong." Al whispers silently. "You're amazing. You have passion, and you have spirit. The team wouldn't be the same without you." The fingers continue to stroke his forehead.

Carlos doesn't deny it, giving no indication he hears Al's words. He stares at the ground in front of him.

"You're caring, and generous, and have some amazing friends in Mal and Evie. They love you very much." The body beneath Carlos's cheek begins to rock slowly. "From what I've heard, Dude loves you very much too. Dude thinks you're amazing, he needs you. You've cared for Dude more than everyone else at the school combined." Carlos shifts, noticing his leg has cramped. "You love that dog, I know you do. You're great with animals. I saw how you were with Abby, you have a gift. I bet you're the first person Dude goes to every morning, right? He probably sleeps in your bed, that's how much he trusts you. To Dude, you are everything, you make him happier than anyone else could."

Carlos blinks his eyes and his lips begin to tremble. He thinks of Dude's smiling face next to his in the morning, remembering the familiar rasp of warm sloppy tongue across his cheek when Dude realizes he's awake. Carlos warms a little.

The fingers continue to stroke across Carlos's cheek, and he feels something press against his hair.

"Do you want to go back to my room?" Al whisper next to his ear. The stroke of fingers doesn't stop, lulling Carlos to sleep. "We can get you all cleaned up and you can sleep."

Carlos's brain is sluggish as he tries to think. All he hears is sleep, and a vague feeling of exposure that he slowly realizes he's still in the middle of the lunch area. Slowly, mustering what feeble will he has, he nods against Al's thigh.

"Okay, we'll get you out of here. Just relax, I'll look after you." Al sooths a hand through Carlos's hair before shifting around. Carlos is like a ragdoll, unmoving other than to flop slightly due to the new position. And then one arm is under his leg and the other wrapped around his shoulders and he is being lifted.

Carlos doesn't move, he just lets his head lull into a firm chest. His eyes stay open, staring blankly at Al's soft blue jersey.

And still at the back of his mind he heard it all, the constant soundtrack of his life.

/

Once Al got Carlos to his room, set him on the bed, pulled his shoes off, and washed off the dirt and sweat with a damp washcloth he had retrieved from the bathroom. He couldn't look at Carlos's face, because that broken emptiness made his heartbreak, because never in his life had he seen such an expression.

Carlos finally fell asleep, and Al knew that for the time being he was safe to leave the younger boy alone. And so he left to go back to the man who had caused this all.

He is going to take care of Jay, so that he and his wretched bloodline couldn't hurt another person ever again.

 _ **A/N: Just making sure you guys all know about the change in schedule: I'll be posting once per week on Wednesday mornings now just so I can stay on top of school and work and life issues right now. I'll let you know if I'm ever able to go back to the old schedule. Thanks for understanding, and don't forget to leave your comments on this chapter!**_


	10. Chapter 10

**_A/N: Just a warning, this isn't my best writing ever. I tried, it just didn't happen._ **

**/**

Al marches across the campus, his mind trained on Carlos and Jay. The pain he had seen in Carlos was the kind of pain that had built up over a long, long time; it wasn't just because of what Carlos had heard Jay say, but it was definitely because of the thief.

When Al reaches the Tourney field the team has mostly disappeared, with the exception of the one guy coming out of the change room. Al nods at him and slinks through the door which he had come through, rounding into the room filled with the sweet smell of sweat and deodorant. His blood pounds through his veins like burning fire as he searches the room for Jay.

He finds the thief sitting on the last bench in the corner before the showers, his head bent in his hands, still wearing his filthy jersey. There is no sound in the room except for the quiet drip of water from one of the showers.

Al stands and stares at him, imagining himself wrapping his hands around that neck and squeezing. Jay looks up at Al with furrowed brows.

"Hey, dude. Is Carlos okay?" He's frowning.

"Of course not." Al spits, watching as Jay flinches. "You know, when I first met you I hadn't quite decided what to think. You seemed okay, but now I see I was very, very wrong. All you do is cause pain. You are just like your father." Al wields his words like a sword, watching as Jay gets increasingly green in the face. He fights down the fire begging to burst out of him, clenching his fists tightly. His nails draw blood from his palms, allowing him some relief.

"I—I don't." Jay whispers. "I'm not my father."

"You're wrong. You hurt innocent people. Look what you did to Carlos today. You hurt him, you have continued to hurt him."

"No. No he misunderstood, that was Chad!" Jay cries, standing up. His eyes are wide and watery.

"No." Al spits again. "That was all you. Carlos doesn't deserve you, he's too good for you. I'm telling you know to leave him alone."

"Carlos is my best friend! I would never hurt him!" Jay waves his arms.

"You just did."

"No! Goddammit!" Jay spins around and punches the wall in frustration.

"Look at you!" Al cries. "This is what you do. You are uncontrollable. Maybe Carlos isn't it. You could hurt Mal or Evie or Ben too. You're hurting them all just by being here. You carry your blood like a plague, infecting us all with your vile villainous blood."

"You're wrong! Carlos and Evie and Mal, they're the products of villains too!" Jay stabs a finger at Al. "Just because my father screwed with your family specifically, that doesn't mean I'm bad, and it also doesn't mean other villains didn't hurt other people. Carlos's mother, Evie's mother, Mal's mother, they all hurt people too, but Mal and Evie and Carlos aren't their mothers. They don't hurt people."

"No, just you." Al stabs his finger at Jay in retaliation, and Jay takes a step back. "You didn't see Carlos after he heard what you said. _You_ broke him, _you_ made him scream out in agony. _You_ are a monster."

Al turns and heads to the door. Opening it, he looks back. "Stay away from Carlos, before you do any more damage."

/

"Knock, knock!" Ben calls as he peeks his head around the door to Mal and Evie's room. The girls are sitting at their usual spots; Mal on her bed and Evie at her sewing table. They smile at him as he enters.

"Hey, Benny Boo" Mal sing songs at him, making him laugh. He goes over to her and plops a kiss on the top of her head before settling down beside him.

"What are you working on?" He asks, looking down at her spell book.

"I'm just looking through the spell book again. I found something really interesting!" She holds the pages toward him and points at the left page. "Look!"

He skims a few lines, frowning. "A spell to make someone tell the truth?"

"Yeah!" She grins at him excitedly. He chuckles, happy to see her so delighted. Then he frowns a little, remembering one of the less savory reasons for his stopping by—the savoury one being that he gets to see his amazing girlfriend. "Hey, Carlos didn't happen to stop by here, did he?"

"No, why?" Evie asks, looking up from her sewing with a frown. Ben knows how protective she is of Carlos.

"He ran out after practice pretty upset tonight."

"Why? Did someone do something? Why didn't Jay go with him?"

"Well that's the thing…Jay's the one that upset him. From what I saw, Chad was getting Jay all riled up, talking bad about Carlos and trying to get Jay to say some bad things about Carlos. Jay finally snapped and said yeah, he didn't think Carlos was a great player, and he was about to add that that didn't make him any less a part of the team, but Carlos walked in and just heard the insult…"

"Oh no." Evie gasps, covering her mouth.

Mal frowns too, looking worried. Ben tries to smile reassuringly at her and gently brushes a strand of purple hair out of her eyes. She smiles slightly at him, but her eyes stay creased with worry.

"Did Jay go after him to explain?" She asks, clasping Ben's hand.

Ben's frown deepens. "No, Al ran after him instead to try and comfort them. Neither of them came back."

"Al probably just walked him to his room; Carlos probably wanted to be alone. I'm sure Jay and Carlos made up when Jay got back there." Evie said. Ben wasn't sure if she was reassuring them or herself.

"Maybe we should go check, just in case…" Mal trailed off, looking between the two of them with wide eyes, biting her lip.

"Why don't I try and text them first?" Evie offers, grabbing her phone. Mal sighs and nods with a small, relieved smile.

Evie taps at her phone for a few minutes and Ben looks down at their joined hands, tracing lines across the back of Mal's hand with his free one. She smiles up at him and pecks him on the cheek, making him grin and blush.

Evie makes a low sound in the back of her throat and the two of them look up to find her frowning at her phone screen.

"What?" They ask together.

"Carlos isn't answering, and Jay said that Carlos hadn't shown up at all, and that he had a confrontation with Al. He also said that he'd be sleeping in Ethan's room tonight to give Carlos a little space and to think things over. He was pretty abrupt about it, and wouldn't say anything more." She's biting her lip, looking very worried.

"Maybe we should stop by their room, see if Carlos showed up there after he left. I wonder what the confrontation was about." Mal muses, looking just as worried.

"I'm sure they're all fine." Ben tries to reassure her, rubbing her back.

"Still, I want to see for myself that they're okay."

"Me too," Evie says, standing up. "Let's go find them."


	11. Chapter 11

**_A/N I am sooooo sorry! This chapter was supposed to be posted LAST Wednesday with no excuse other than I totally forgot to post it here to! It was up on my AO3 account so anyone who follows that could know, but I doubt many of you do to. I'm sorry, my life is a mess right now! On the bright side, today you get TWO chapters!_**

Mal and Evie walk through the halls at a brisk pace, having parted ways with Ben back at their room, as he had a meeting with his parents.

Mal bites her lip, fighting down her worry and remembering their time on the Isle. Whenever something bad happened to Carlos, he had always gone to Jay. They were each other's rock. She has no idea how Carlos will handle this now, who he might turn to. If he turns to anyone, she knows it will be Evie, so she's glad her best friend is with her.

Evie continues to listen to her conversation with Jay over and over in her head, looking for anything she may have missed, anything that could give her a clue as to what happened. She sighs, her heart feeling heavy in her chest. They had been making so much progress in their relationship—Carlos had finally realized his feelings—and now this setback. She prays they can come back from this as strong as ever, but inwardly fears the opposite at the same time.

She also can't help but notice that this all started when Al came to school. Of course she felt guilty with herself even thinking it, as he had been so wonderful with her and Mal, and Jay and Ben had vouched for him too. But Carlos had seemed worried about him before, and even before they'd met Al's arrival had caused Jay to avoid Carlos, hurting him for the first time. She anxiously touches the pendant strung around her neck, hoping it will sooth her.

Before she can think any further on the subject they reach Jay and Carlos's room. Mal raps quickly on the door and they wait in silence, humming with energy. A light bark comes from the other side of the door, but no other sounds. They look at each other worriedly.

"Try the door." Evie suggests. Mal turns the handle, but the door doesn't budge. She frowns, wiggling the handle some more. Evie sighs loudly and then remembers something. "Try using that spell you used at the museum!"

"Right!" Mal murmurs the incantation under her breath and then turns the knob, holding her breath. The door opens, and they release their breath in a rush.  
Dude runs out wagging his tail and yaps at them before running back into the room. Mal and Evie peak their heads around the corner.

"No one is here." Mal sighs, opening the door wider and walking in.

The girls scan the room silently, each wondering what to do and coming up blank but unable to admit it. Evie glances at Dude, who is lying on Carlos's bed with his head on his paws, looking at them sadly. She walks over and scratches behind his ear, sitting down with slumped shoulders. Dude licks her hand half-heartedly.

"Hey, maybe Dude could cheer Carlos up!" Evie exclaims, perking up. She smiles at Mal hopefully, but her smile dims when the other girl frowns at her.

"We'd still need to find him first though." Mal says with a frown.

"Oh, right." Evie frowns, her shoulders slumping again.

"But…" Mal straightens, smiling at her. "Maybe Dude could lead us to him!"

Evie smiles, jumping up. "Yes! That could totally work." She turns to the dog on the bed, who had lifted his head upon hearing his name. "Come on, Dude, you're going to show us where Carlos is!"

/

Meanwhile, in Al's room, Carlos yawns and rolls over before scrunching his nose. The bed smelled wrong, making him realize he wasn't in his own room. He frowns in confusion as the day's events slowly come back to him, and then closes his eyes again, wishing for that beautiful black oblivion to come back.

He sits up with a groan, his limbs feeling heavy and useless, just like his heart. He is exhausted, as if all of the energy has gone out of his body, leaving a hollow ache and a pounding headache. He blinks his eyes open slowly, opening them only to a blurry slit. He stares at his hands in his lap for a moment, blankly taking in the fiery red crescent marks on this forearms. He focuses on the dull licks of pain they send up his arms.

Once he's fully awake, if not at least slightly alert, he looks around. He vaguely remembers Al carrying him, the vibrations of his chest as he talked to him, but he can't remember the words. He does assume this is Al's room. The boy in question, however, is nowhere to be found.

Carlos stands up slowly and stretches out his body with a slight wince, relishing the twinges of pain that come from his muscles. Anything to distract him from thinking about _him_.

He walks over to the door but pauses before his hand touches the knob. He can't stay here, no way could he face Al after everything he witnessed, but where else would he go? He wouldn't face Jay, and didn't particularly want to see anyone in the state he is currently in. He sighs and shrugs, moving his feet forward and out the door with no place in particular in mind. Just anywhere.

Carlos walks down the hallway to the back entrance, happy Al's room is on the ground floor. He walks out the door, across the path, and into the main school building. He knows he won't run into many people hanging around empty classrooms, let alone his friends and teammates. He walks the empty hallways and up a flight of stairs in a daze, moving like a zombie.

Carlos is wandering down a hallway of closed and dark doorways when he hears the sound of faint music, sparking some feeling back into his body. He raises his head, his eyes wide, and focuses on his surroundings.

He is in a part of the school he'd never ventured to before. Looking around he discovers that it's the arts wings, with an art class on his right and what seems to be a room full of instruments on his left. The music is coming from down the hall, where he can see a faint band of light stretching across the tiled floor from underneath a closed door. There's a window next to the door with half-closed blinds, casting slanted bars of light across the opposite wall.

The beat of the music pulls Carlos forward, music unlike any he'd expect to hear at such a preppy, elite school like Auradon. The beat is alive, moving and pulsing like the music back on the Isle had. He had danced all night to music like this, stayed up for hours in abandoned warehouses and half-lit basements wading through crowds of withering, sweaty bodies, each moving to the beat in their own ways. This music was his music, the music that had brought him alive and graced his movements. He had forgotten how amazing it had felt to be able to move to the beat, to feel like he was good, great even, when he watched the eyes of the crowd trail after him as he moved and swayed and bounced.

Even now, in the darkened hallway miles away from that place, he found his hips begin to sway, his steps become longer and more languid, and his limbs seem to float effortlessly through the air and propel him forward to the door. Carlos stops outside the door and peers in, his breath catching at what he sees.

Inside the room is completely bare save for a single person and a stereo in the far corner of the room. The dance studio has pristine wooden floors gleaming under the florescent lights, and the far wall is covered entirely by large panels of mirror. The two side walls have wooden bars extending across their length at waist height.

And in the middle of the room is one boy, naked except for the cargo pants hanging loosely from his hips. His muscular back glistens under the light as he moves with the pounding beat of the music, following his own rhythm and staring intently at his reflection in the mirror.

Carlos puts his hand on the doorknob before he even thinks about what he's doing and pushes open the door, stepping across the gleaming threshold into something entirely new.

The music shuts off and the boy turns to him.


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: so as I said, double chapter today due to my mistake. Also a quick note: I've never written a dance scene before so the one in the last one and especially this one were hard, I had no idea how to approach it. Please don't judge too hard. Side note, I didn't plan for it to happen! (You'll know what I mean)**_

Carlos tenses, not sure if the boy would be mad about the intrusion, but the other boy just smiles at Carlos and walks over to the wall where his things are piled. Carlos watches in silence as the boy picks up his shirt and wipes the sweat off of his neck before gulping down half of the contents of his water bottle. Carlos continues to stare, not feeling as if he has complete control over his body.

The boy turns to smile at him, walking over. He doesn't seem to notice that his feet are bare and that his pants are clinging to the sharp edges of his hip bones.

"Hi, my name's Pete. I'm the son of the Pied Piper."

"Ca-Carlos" Carlos stutters, shaking the boy's hand. His smile is kind, his hair shaggy across his forehead and slick with sweat, sticking it to his forehead.

"Oh, right! You're from the Isle right? I'm a couple grades ahead of you, which is why we haven't had any classes together. I'm mostly taking dance and music classes anyway. From what I hear, you're more into tech." His smile never wavers as he firmly shakes Carlos's hand. Carlos feels his face stretching into a small grin in response. He feels relaxed, and clings to the sensation.

"What was that you were just doing?" Carlos motions over to the wall of mirrors. "I never thought I'd see that style of dance outside of the Isle."

"Oh, that?" His ruddy cheeks darken with a blush, and he glances down before looking back up underneath his eyelashes. "That was mothering, just something I do on my own time. It's kind of embarrassing really; I don't really know what I'm doing.

"No, that was great!" Carlos cries, blinking in astonishment that the boy could be so bashful and unsure about something that had been so incredible to watch. "You were stunning; it reminded me of when I was back home on the Isle." Then Carlos realizes how that could have sounded and shrinks back a little, rubbing his neck with downcast eyes. "What-what I meant was that that style is popular...not that you would belong there...or know what it was like or anything. I was-I was just surprised, that's all."

Peter laughs slightly, tapping Carlos under the chin with his finger. Carlos glances up.

"You're a cutie, you know that?"

"Wh-what?" Carlos's eyes fly wide open. Peter chuckles again, then looks at him closely.

"Hey, you say this was popular on the Isle, did you dance?"

Carlos blushes, looking down again. "Well, not really, I mean not much..."

"Liar." Peter grins at him and grabs his hand, dragging him into the room. "Come on, come dance, show me what you can do."

"No, no really-" But Peter is already walking over to the stereo and turning on another song. The song builds up volume slowly but Carlos can immediately catch the beat, just like the last one, and he can feel his muscles relaxing as he listens to the rising tempo.

Peter grins at him and walks over, added sway in his hips. "Come on, lose the shoes and the jersey, your shorts will do. You need to be able to breathe, move completely unrestricted, and see in the mirror exactly what your body is doing." Peter grins at him and playfully pulls at the bottom of Carlos's Tourney jersey. Carlos blushes bright red but shucks it anyway, tossing it into the corner of the room. He can't seem to take his eyes off of Peter, even though his cheeks are burning. He leaves the black t-shirt on underneath, but tosses his socks and shoes across the room to sit with his jersey.

Carlos's hips are moving now, swaying with the music. When Peter turns with another grin and starts really moving, putting his whole body into the music, Carlos lets go too. He closes his eyes and focuses every fiber of his being on the music around him, feeling it swim through the air around him, circling him, caressing across his body like a lover, until Carlos is moving with it, a lovers dance with the music as his partner. His hips swish and sway and grind to the hard beat, and he gets low, crouching down and thrusting before kicking his feet and bouncing once more, spinning and gliding around the room.

At some point he opens his eyes and watches Peter watch him, and the move closer, moving in tandem, watching the other and anticipating their movements, mirroring and then changing, taking turns following and leading. Together they move through the room, not noticing the sweat dropping from their skin to strike the floor. Their bodies move closer and closer until there's barely an inch of space between them, their eyes locked on the other's rather than the mirrored wall. The tempo rises higher and higher and their breathing comes faster and faster, their mouths dropping open and their eyes closing to slits as they lose themselves completely, their hips turning together and apart, in and out. Their arms reach out and up, reaching for the ceiling, and the music breaks around them, dropping down into one last final note.

Carlos opens his eyes slowly, feeling as if he's just waking up from a dream. His body is sweaty, his t-shirt clinging to his chest. He looks up and finds Peter's face only an inch away, small beads of sweat running down his face. His eyes gleam at Carlos with feverish passion, his grin wide and exposing two rows of perfectly white teeth.

"That was amazing!" Peter cries, clutching Carlos's arms. Carlos just stands with his mouth agape before jumping back, looking down with a fierce blush.

"Yeah," he mutters. "That was fun." Inwardly he's wondering what exactly just happened. He's also getting flashbacks to that one sweaty, music induced night with Hank on the Isle. And then Jay's face flashes behind his eyes and he bites his lip hard to keep from crying out at his sudden wave of anguish.

His happiness and relaxation is gone in a second, blown apart by the mixing of grief and guilt as he thinks of Jay. Hadn't he just realized he was in love with Jay? How could be dance like this with another boy.

And then the second thought that accompanied that: hadn't he also realized Jay would never return his feelings? Hadn't he just today discovered how Jay really felt about him? He shouldn't feel guilty, he had no reason to be. Jay was not his lover, his boyfriend, or even his true friend.

He owed Jay no guilt, and no loyalty.

Before his thoughts can go any farther, Peter's chuckles draw his attention. He's sauntering back to the stereo to shut it down, and the bright smile hasn't left his face. His face is bright and gleaming, as if he'd just solved the puzzle that had been stumping him for a long time. Peter spins around to him, pinning with his gaze and a pointed finger.

"You," Peter calls. "Truly are a liar. That was phenomenal! Wait until Lottie meets you, oh this is going to make her so happy!" Peter smiles and spins around in his glee. Carlos stares at him with a furrowed brow.

"Wait, what?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Carlos, I have a little proposition for you. I think you might be the answer to my prayers."

/

Meanwhile, Evie and Mal are still searching for Carlos.

"Where's Carlos, Dude?" Evie calls, following him as he dashes out into the hallway. She and Mal share a look before dashing after him. The pooch keeps his nose to the ground, stopping at times to look around before moving forwards. He runs up the stairs and down a hallways they've never been before.

"Dude, where are you going?" Evie cries, trying to keep up in her heels. The small dog has greater leaps and more agility in his small legs than she thought possible.  
The dog stops outside the last door in the hallway, barking.

"Dude, what is it?" Mal cries, ahead of Evie.

"Mal, who's room is this?" Evie whispers, looking around. There are other doors around them, other rooms where people could be sleeping. She doesn't want to bother any of them.  
"I don't know, but I want to find out." Mal says, glaring at the door. Before she can knock, however, the door flies open, and a small brown blur flies out at Dude, making him leap back with a small yelp.

The monkey sits on Dude's back, straddling his neck, making Dude shake his head to try and see him.

Al steps out of the doorway, rubbing a towel over his head, another wrapped around his waist. He looks at the two girls standing frozen in his doorway and his forehead creases as he frowns, glancing around.

"What's going on?" He asks them, wrapping the towel around his neck and bending to pick Abby up. The monkey chatters at Dude for a moment before climbing up Al's arm to perch on his shoulder, her small hand behind his ear. She stares at them with beady black eyes, suddenly strangely similar to Al's dark stare.

"We're looking for Carlos." Mal says. Evie's eyes dip down and pop back up, and she spins away with a blush. She hadn't realized that Al's towel was slipping. Mal however doesn't break eye contact.

"He's not here." Al says, frowning.

"Well then why would Dude bring us here?" Mal frowns.

Al shrugs, looking unconcerned. "He's a dog, it's not like he understands what you want. He probably smelled Abby and wanted to investigate."

Something in his voice makes Evie spin back around, frowning.

"Dude isn't stupid." She says, staring at Al's face. "He knew what we wanted. Carlos is his favourite person, he was missing him. He wouldn't have come here without reason."  
Al stares at her in the eye and then sighs, his shoulders slumping. Evie notices that his eyes stay carefully blank.

"Fine, Carlos was here. He's gone now though; he was gone when I got back. He was upset after practice so I brought him back here to rest, he fell asleep, and I left him to sleep off whatever was bothering him. When I got back and he was gone I assumed he was with you." He shrugs once more, staring over their heads. Evie frowns at him, something not feeling right.

Abby shrieks and pulls on his ear, drawing his attention. Al's eyes are carefully blank as he skims over them, and then he glares at his monkey for a moment. She chatters at him, and Evie's eyes widen slightly when she realizes he actually seems to be listening to the monkey.

"If you knew Carlos was here, why didn't you say so before?" Mal demands. Evie notices that her hands are balled into tight fists at her sides and has to resist reaching out and uncurling Mal's fingers. She keeps her face blank just as Al has and stares at him with the same question on her face.

Al just blinks slowly. "Well, I thought it was private." He said at last. "I didn't know if it was something he'd want shared with others." He squints at Mal. "Is there something wrong with that, to look out for a friend?"

Mal holds his gaze for a moment before glancing away and biting her lip. Evie sees her eyebrows crease and watches her friend think through some inner debate. She has a good idea of what that might be. What they had already known about Al versus the bad feeling they both now have.

"Fine." Mal finally spits out. "Can you at least tell us what happened? Why was he so upset?"

"You should ask your friend." Al spits back, his blank face slipping momentarily to reveal a fierce snarl. Evie holds back a gasp, and before she can blink the expression is gone again, replaced by that careful blank slate. "Now, if you don't mind," He raises an eyebrow, suddenly looking amused at them. "I don't really wish to stand in my doorway naked. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to get dressed."

Evie blushes and spins around again, and Mal mutters something under her breath. Al shuts the door in her face, barely missing Dude's nose in the doorway.

Evie and Mal regard each other silently for a moment, thinking things over.

Finally Mal nods.

"We need to find Jay."


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: I'M SO SORRY! But I'm also not. Yes, this chapter is really late, but my life is hectic right now and I didn't really have any other choice. It's here now, and the next will be up Wednesday as usual I'm hoping, so you'll get the next one that much sooner!**_

While Mal and Evie stride across campus to Ethan's room, Carlos is wandering out of the school building, pondering everything that has just occurred. What should he make of Peter's proposition? The idea held some appeal, and it might be just what he needs to get over Jay.

Carlos finds himself changing course without any conscious command from his brain, his feet leading him back to the Tourney field and the office connected to the gym where he knows he will find the coach.

His shoulders squared, he walks into the room with his chin held high, resolute in his decision. While not fully thought-out, it feels right, and Carlos has been known to go with his gut.

"Coach, I'm quitting Tourney."

/

Evie struggles to keep up with Mal as she strides with balled fists across the campus, her face stormy and her back rigid. She fears that this might not go as well as she'd hoped if her friend doesn't calm down.

"Mal, you might want to unclench your fists..." Evie said in a weak voice.

Mal spun around her eyes wide. "What?" She glances down before looking back up to meet Evie's wide eyes and nervous face. Mal sighs and slumps. "I know. Come on, I'll be good, promise."

Evie felt slight relief to see Mal's pace slow down and her hands relax. Still, something gnaws at her inside, something not sitting right.

Mal reaches Ethan's door on the other side of the building in minutes and pounds on the door. It only takes a moment for it to swing open, revealing towel clad Ethan.

"What is with boys and towels tonight?" Evie whispers under her breath, looking away. She wonders briefly if she should stop by Doug's room, and then banishes the thought from her mind with a blush.

"Is Jay here?" Mal demands. Ethan frowns at the serious, forceful voice and nods slowly.

"Yeah, just a sec." He turns around and looks back into his room. "Hey, Jay! It's for you!"

"Tell them to go away!" Jay's voice yells from the other room.

Mal growls beside Evie and within an instant Evie knows Angry Mal is back. Mal pushes past Ethan with fisted hands and a clenched jaw, muttering obscenities under her breath. Evie follows with an apologetic look at Ethan, who throws up his hands and shuts the door after him

Ethan's room is laid out the same as Jay and Carlos's with the two beds, the desk, table, and entertainment area. Jay is lying on the floor between the beds staring listlessly up at the ceiling.

Mal kicks his feet.

"You're such an idiot!" She shrieks at him. He lies there and she kicks his booted foot again. "How could you tell us to go away? How could you shut us out like this? Do you know how worried we've been?" She's shrieking and kicking and then suddenly she's crying, sinking to the ground with a sob. "You're such an idiot." She says again with less force, tears falling on her cheeks. She wipes them away with a rough as Jay sits up.

Jay stares at her in stunned silence, guilt written all over his face. Evie gets the sense that the guilt goes farther than making Mal cry. He puts his big hand gently on Mal's shoulder and when she doesn't push him away he gently runs his hand over her purple hair, trying in his macho-guy way to comfort her. She shoves him half-heartedly.

"Sorry Mal." Jay whispers.

"Shut up. No one is to ever know about this." And she shoots a glare over at Ethan, who was starting at them from a few feet away. At her murderous glance he squeaks and scuttles away into the bathroom. Evie chuckles despite herself.

"So, what happened?" Evie asked gently.

"Chad happened. I happened. Al happened."

"But what does that mean?" Evie stressed, getting impatient. "What could have upset you and Carlos so much that Carlos is missing and you're sleeping in another room looking like someone stole your puppy? And what do you mean, what did Al and Chad do?" Evie is near yelling, feeling as if tears are going to well up and flow over the sides of her cheeks. She sucks in a deep breath and Jay stares at the ceiling.

"Al was right, you know," He mutters to himself. The girls lean in to hear him. "I'm no good for Carlos. Have I been totally deluding myself, thinking I could ever be anything but a villain?" His eyes are wide and watery, his lower lip trembles.

Mal smacks his head.

"Ow!"

"Jay, you stupid oaf! You are good, you have always been good, but especially since you got here! You're insane to think otherwise! Did Al tell you that you were bad? I'll go smack him silly too! I can't believe we trusted him!" Mal looks like a murderous kitten sitting there, seething. Evie is trying to keep up with what is happening, her heart refusing to quite believe that Al would be capable of such mean words. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling she'd had earlier.

"What is going on?" Evie asks, calmer than Mal. She puts her hand on his knee. "Tell us exactly what happened Jay; I can't believe anyone would ever think to say something like that to you. It's crazy."

Jay sighs and pinches his eyes closed. For a second he stays still and the girls wait to see if he'll tell them or not. Finally his eyes open and he looks sadder than he had since they left the Isle.

"After Tourney practice I got to the change room before Carlos did and Chad started making jokes about Carlos. I tried to stand up for him, but Chad was relentless. It was like he had a personal vendetta or something, he wouldn't let it drop. He kept pushing and pushing, trying to get me to insult Carlos, to say he wasn't any good. And I snapped. I wanted it to be over with, and I knew if I told Chad what he wanted to hear, he'd let it drop. I didn't want him to be saying those things when Carlos got there, because I knew it would hurt him. So I said, yeah, Carlos sucks. The entire change room went silent, and I turned to find exactly what I'd feared: Carlos was standing there in the doorway staring at me with wide, watery eyes, looking like I had taken away his favourite sweater. He turned and ran before I could say anything." Jay's silent for a moment, his eyes far away, and Evie bites her lip hard to keep it from trembling as she imagines the scene Jay is describing. It's too horrible.

"I was going to go after him," Jay continues. "But Al stopped me in the door way, told me that I had done enough damage already, and then he took off after him. I didn't know what to do, I panicked. All the boys were staring at me in silence, their eyes wide. I remember thinking I was so glad Ben wasn't there, because I couldn`t stand to see the disappointment on his face. All I could do was sit on the bench. I don't even remember how much time passed, but next thing I knew I was looking up and Al was back, and all the other boys had left already. Al looked murderous, his eyes were livid but his face was scarily blank."

He takes another deep, shuddering breath. The words tumble out fast now. "Al ripped into me, telling me that I was bad for Carlos, that I could never see him again because he was better off without me. He said that after what he had seen what his parents went through with his dad; he never should have doubted the same in me, that I was just like my father. He said I was a villain, I carried it like a disease, that I enjoyed hurting people, that I couldn't stop hurting Carlos or any of you." Jay heaves out a large sob. "He t-told me about Carlos, that when he left he was so torn up, I made him _sob_. But not only that, I made him _scream_ in agony." Tears fall freely down all of their cheeks now, and Mal has one hand pressed over her mouth.

Evie lets out a small sob and throws her arms around Jay. She feels like her worst fears are coming true. She also knows that whatever she's feeling, Jay is feeling five times worse, and her heart breaks for it. She looks stares up at Jay's face.

"You listen to me, Jay," She says forcefully, grabbing his chin in one hand. "You are not a villain, you do not hurt us, and you do not need to stay away from Carlos. What you need to do is find him and apologize. You two are mea—best friends, and you can't let something like this come between you two. You are stronger than this, and you owe it to yourself and to Carlos to try. Please, promise me?" She begs him with her eyes.

Jay's lower lip trembles and he nods. They look over at Mal.

Mal's tears have dried up, and in their place is a cold, calculating anger that Evie knows well. "Mal…what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go kill someone."


	14. Chapter 14

Once Evie and Jay had been assured that Mal wasn't actually going to kill anyone, they allowed her to leave the room after she gave them cryptic instructions to meet her in front of Al's room in half an hour. Until then, they were to go find Carlos.

Jay and Evie stared at each other for a few minutes after she'd left, but Evie finally shrugs. "She's Mal, she's got something planned. Best just to go along with it for now." Jay nods and stands up, helping Evie to her feet. He shoves his hands into his pockets.

"So…we're really going to go find Carlos then?" He looks down at the floor and scuffs his boot on the ground nervously. Evie places her hand under his chin and lifts it gently to make him look at her.

"Yes, you are going to go find Carlos and explain to him what you just told us. You are best friends, Jay. You can't let something like this come between you indefinitely. The sooner Carlos knows that you're sorry and what really happened, the better."

Ethan comes out of the bathroom at that moment and clears his throat to draw their attention. Evie notices with relief that he'd put some clothes on.

"Yeah, you guys might want to hurry." He tells them with a frown, holding up his cell phone. "I just got a text form Ben…Carlos quit the team." He bites his lip.

Evie and Jay look at each other with wide eyes before hurrying for the door, Jay yelling out a quick thanks to Ethan as the door shuts behind them.

"Where would Carlos go?" Evie asks Jay as the speed walk down the hallway. Dude sprints along beside them, annoyed at having been forgotten. Jay glances down at him and frowns.

"He's got to be missing Dude by now, maybe he went back to our room."

Evie and Jay set off down the hall towards their room quickly, frowns on their faces.

/

Meanwhile, in Carlos's room, Al sits on the edge of Carlos's bed with his arm wrapped around the younger boy's shoulders.

"How are you doing?" Al asks quietly. Carlos had been strangely silent, which worried him. Al had been against going back to his room at all, not wanting the other boy to have to deal with Jay, but Carlos had wanted his silly mutt and so they'd come back. Carlos, distraught at not being able to find the stupid animal, had sat down on the bed and not said a word since, despite Al's promptings.

Carlos shrugs listlessly beneath his arm, staring at the ground in front of him. Al rubs his shoulder slowly, hoping the motion will soothe and relax him. He creeps his other fingers up his arm slowly, up his forearm and over the bulge of his shoulder to rest just before his neck. He brings the other hand up as well, and beings massaging Carlos's shoulders. The muscles are incredibly tense beneath his hands.

Al leans forward slowly, keeping his eyes on the other boy's face for any change in expression, and rests his chin gently on the edge of Carlos's shoulder. Carlos jumps slightly and glances down at him out of the corner of his eyes, his eyebrows pulling down.

"What are you doing?" His voice is confused, and Al resists the urge to laugh at his innocence. He had thought of another way to make the boy relax, and also scare Jay off in the process.

"Just trying to get you to relax." Al whispered, his breath tickling against Carlos's neck. Up close Al can make out a thousand individual little freckles on his blushing cheeks. He runs the tips of his fingers slowly down Carlos's spine, eliciting a shiver from the other boy.

"Umm..." Carlos stutters. However, before he can say anything, Abby lets out a loud chatter from the doorway, where she'd been watching out the small crack Al had left, and then hops up onto the bed, tugging frantically on Al's sleeve.

Al lifts his head slightly off Carlos's shoulder to glare down at the monkey. "What?" He hissed.

Abby chattered again and pointed her tiny hands towards the door, and Al widened his eyes. Then he narrowed them and jerked his head towards the door. The monkey hops off and Al turns his attention back to Carlos, a warm smile taking over his face. He traces his hand back up Carlos's back, this time with more pressure, and cups the back of his neck.

"You know, darling, I know just the thing to get you to relax. You just have to trust me." Al purred gently, twisting Carlos's face towards him.

"I don't think..." Carlos stutters once more. Al shushes him with a finger over his lips, leaning towards him and deftly making Carlos lean back with a slight pressure on his neck, guiding the other boy down without him even realizing it.

"Then don't think." Al whispers, his eyelids drooping down. Then Carlos is aware that suddenly his back is on the mattress, and he scoots up a little, away from Al. Al smiles at this, as Carlos has just allowed him room to crawl up onto the bed after him, and does just that, putting one knee on either side of Carlos's legs. Carlos's eyes are wide, and just as Al begins to hear the barking and footsteps outside the door, Al seals his mouth over Carlos's, cutting off whatever wide-eyed stammer Carlos had been about to elicit.

/

Jay and Evie's feet pound down the hallway, their eyes wide at Dude's sudden burst of speed and barking. Jay's heart pounds heavily in his chest when he sees Carlos's door hanging slightly ajar, and he doesn't think before he bursts into the room, the door banging off the wall with a loud crack.

Jay doesn't hear it; in fact, he doesn't hear anything but the blood rushing in his ears as he takes in the sight on the bed: Carlos on his back with Al over top of him, straddling him, one hand caressing Carlos's hip and the other his face. Their lips sealed together in a kiss, Carlos's hands on Al's shoulders. Then their faces looking up at him; Carlos's eyes round with surprise as he pulls his face away from Al's, who's eyes hold only a glare.

Jay turns and pushes his way past Evie, striding out the door. His breath seems to come in uneven pants, his chest feeling constricted. He has no words to describe what he's feeling, and he sees nothing but blackness and Carlos kissing Al as he stumbles down the hall, as far away from Al as he can. At the base of the main stairs in the foyer, he falls to his knees and sobs.


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N:**_ _I'M SO SO SO SO SO SO... (five minutes later) ...SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG WITH THIS CHAPTER! School piled up, I was doing NaNoWriMo in November (writing a novel in a month), and my motivation was all over the place, not to mention tech issues with my laptops. To make up for my absence, this is the longest chapter by far, nearly double the previously longest chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think at the bottom! ONE MORE CHAPTER AFTER THIS!_

 **Previously:**

 _Jay and Evie's feet pound down the hallway, their eyes wide at Dude's sudden burst of speed and barking. Jay's heart pounds heavily in his chest when he sees Carlos's door hanging slightly ajar, and he doesn't think before he bursts into the room, the door banging off the wall with a loud crack._

 _Jay doesn't hear it; in fact, he doesn't hear anything but the blood rushing in his ears as he takes in the sight on the bed: Carlos on his back with Al over top of him, straddling him, one hand caressing Carlos's hip and the other his face. Their lips sealed together in a kiss, Carlos's hands on Al's shoulders. Then their faces looking up at him; Carlos's eyes round with surprise as he pulls his face away from Al's, who's eyes hold only a glare._

 _Jay turns and pushes his way past Evie, striding out the door. His breath seems to come in uneven pants, his chest feeling constricted. He has no words to describe what he's feeling, and he sees nothing but blackness and Carlos kissing Al as he stumbles down the hall, as far away from Al as he can. At the base of the main stairs in the foyer, he falls to his knees and sobs._

 **Chapter 15**  
Mal is running through the halls of the dorm, a small pouch slapping against her thigh from where it hangs loosely in her hands, when she rounds into the foyer and spots Jay slumped over on the floor at the base of the stairs.

"Jay?" She cries, changing direction and sprinting to his side, fear freezing her heart. She falls to her knees and breathes a sigh of relief that quickly changes into more worry when she realizes that he is sobbing, his head in his hands and his shoulders shaking. "Jay?" She asks again, quietly, dropping the pouch so that she can place a gentle hand on his shoulder, the other reaching up to cradle his chin.

Jay lifts his head, his face red and tear-stained, and his eyes puffy. He glances at her worried eyes for a moment before burying his fae in her shoulder with another heavy sob. She pats him on the back frantically while fumbling with the other in her jacket pocket in search for her phone. She hits speed dial and lifts it to her ear.

"Evie, what happened?" Mal demands as soon as the other girl answers, nearly screeching.

"Al accosted Carlos in their room just as Jay and I walked in." Evie's voice is steely when she answers, as if she's speaking through her teeth. Mal's never heard Evie use that tone before, and becomes worried before she even registered Evie's words and what they imply.

"What?" Mal shrieks immediately. Jay sobs again into her shoulder and she tightens her grip around his shoulders absently, her gaze darting around the foyer with wide eyes. "Where are they now?" Mal asks quickly. She had hoped to avoid this sort of situation, but this could be the perfect time to enact her plan. She glanced down at the small pouch next to her.

"I'm with Al and Carlos in Carlos's room right now. Carlos is a little shaken up and locked himself in his bathroom, and I've got Al tied to a chair at the moment."

Mal can just picture Evie glaring at Al while she said that. Mal holds back a smirk. "Alright, keep him there, I'll be right there, and I'm bringing Jay back with me. I think everyone needs to be present for what I'm about to do." She hangs up her phone with a snap.

Mal cradles Jay's head in her hands for a minute, drawing his eyes up to hers. Her face turns sad and sympathetic, and she coos softly at him for a minute. She inwardly thanks anyone who will listen for the fact that there aren't any students around at that moment.

"There, there, it will be okay sweetie. I'm sure it was all a misunderstanding. Why are you so upset?" She holds up a hand when he opens his mouth. "I know what happened, I want to know what specifically is hurting you right now." She looks at him shrewdly, simultaneously hating to ask him the question but hoping that her hunch is right.

Jay hesitates, staring into Mal's eyes, his own filled with moisture though he'd stopped crying. He wipes his hand hard across his eyes.

"I think I'm in love with Carlos." He whispers, looking away.

Mal squeals and throws her arms around his neck. "Oh, hun, I know."

Jay pulls back with a frown. "What do you mean, you know? I didn't even know!"

Mal chuckles gently. "Oh, everyone knew except the two of you, silly. We've all been waiting for you to figure it out. We've been getting tired of waiting, and then this whole mess started and we'd started to give up hope." When his eyes started to water again she grabbed his chin forcefully. "No, don't you give me that. This, the fact that you know you're in love with Carlos and how upset the two of you have been, all it does is prove that there's still hope for the two of you yet. Don't give up hope. Please."

Jay hesitates before nodding. "What do you mean 'except the two of us'? You mean Carlos has been in love with me too?"

Mal pauses. "You'll have to ask him that yourself, sweetie." She says finally. Then she scrambles to her feet, holding out her hand for Jay. He grabs on and she helps pull him up and watches as he brushes off his uniform.

"So, what do we do now?" Jay asks her, biting his lip.

She holds up her pouch, her face fierce. "Now, we go find out the truth."

/

When Mal and Jay storm into Jay and Carlos's room they find Evie and Al exactly as Evie said they would.

Evie stands leaning against Carlos's dresser, studying her nails impassively. Across from her Al sits in a chair a couple feet away from the table, his feet and hands taped together, a sock (which Mal secretly hopes is dirty) shoved into his mouth, and his body bound to the chair with sheets from the bed. Dude lays on the floor in front of a flipped over laundry basket, and Mal realizes belatedly that Evie had trapped Abby beneath it. The monkey clutches the plastic bars, swatting at Dude every now and then, making him growl.

Evie looks up from her nails when Mal and Jay walk in, rushing over to give Jay a hug. "Oh, you poor baby." She coos.

"Where's Carlos?" Mal asks Evie quietly. Evie glances meaningfully at the closed bathroom door. Mal walks over and knocks gently.

"Carlos, hunny? I need you go come out here for a few minutes." She calls softly, pressing her ear against the door.

"Why?" Comes a soft reply. Mal glances sorrowfully at Evie for a moment.

"Please, Carlos? I need you to hear something for yourself."

"I can listen from here." He says stubbornly.

"No, you need to see it while you hear it. I don't want any doubt in your mind. Please? You're safe here, okay? You don't need to say or do anything, just come out." Mal almost smiled at the unintentional double meaning to her words. She hopes Carlos doesn't notice it.

Everyone waits silently, holding their breath while they wait to see what Carlos will do. Finally the door cracks open, and Carlos's red-rimmed eyes and pale, worn-out face are visible in the crack. Mal steps back and holds her arms open to him, her face gentle. He opens the door and falls into her arms with a deep, shuddering breath.

"Okay." He whispers, his voice scratchy. "I'm here now."

Mal nods at him slowly. "You have to stay here for the entire thing, okay?" She raises her eyebrows at him. He nods slowly. "Good." Then she turns to Al, her gentle face falling away, replaced by a cool hatred.  
Mal holds up the small pouch she'd brought and finally opens it, pulling out a chocolate chip cookie. Everyone raises an eyebrow at her, including Al. He seems very unconcerned about his position.

"Did I mention to any of you that I had found a new spell in my mother's spell book? It's a truth spell, and whoever consumes it has to answer every question they're asked with full honesty." Mal raises an eyebrow at Al, stepping forward. Suddenly he seems a little more concerned, leaning back with narrowed eyes. Mal glances back at Evie.

"Evie, would you please do me a favour and film this? I want a record of whatever Al has to say to us right now, just in case it's something we need to share."

"Sure thing." Evie says, glaring at Al. Jay leans back against the door, glancing warily at Carlos every few seconds. Carlos slides down the wall to sit on the floor next to the bathroom, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.

Once Evie begins recording on her cellphone, Mal walks forward and pulls the sock out of Al's mouth. Al works out his jaw, a disgusted look on his face.

"That thing was disgusting. You know, I'm pretty sure there's rules about keeping another student as a bound and gagged prisoner."

"At this moment I don't particularly care. Now, eat this." Mal holds the cookie out to him. Al glares at it, clamping his mouth shut. Mal raises an eyebrow. "Have something to hide?" She asks.

"Not at all." Al mutters through his teeth. "I'm just not particularly fond of chocolate."

"Now, that in itself should be a crime." Mal says drily. "Now, eat this one cookie, just a bite. You don't want to insult my cooking now, do you? What sort of prince are you?"

"The smart kind, that doesn't want to eat anything that's been tainted by magic." Al snaps. Mal narrows her eyes at him, grabs him by the chin, and forces his mouth open, popping a chunk of the cookie into his mouth. Then she clasps her hand over his mouth so he doesn't spit it out.

"Now chew. I'm not moving my hand until you do. You're making it very clear that you have something to hide, I think this in itself is enough to perk the Fairy Godmother's curiosity and I bet you they'll launch an investigation, especially when I get _King_ Ben involved. Let's just make this easier on ourselves and go through it now, shall we?"

Mal's eyes are colder and harder than any of the people present had ever seen them. Evie looks at her best friend with pride gleaming in her eyes. The Isle may not have been the best, but they had learned how to protect one another no matter what it took.

Finally, after an intense stare down, Al begins to chew. Mal steps back after leveling him with a warning look.

They wait for a few seconds, giving the spell a chance to get to work. After a moment, Mal steps forward again, her arms crossed.

"Al, what do you think of Jay?" She asks, knowing very well he'd have to tell the truth if the spell had worked.

Al's eyes narrow, and for a moment he looks as if he's choking as he clenches his teeth together, and then his mouth opens and the words pour out like poison, his face livid.

"I think he is a villain that deserves to be sent back to the Isle of the Lost for all eternity, a villain who enjoys hurting people and who doesn't deserve love and friendship. I think he is a horrible coward, a liar, a monster that hurts innocent people and causes pain everywhere he goes."

Al falls silent, the veins sticking out in his throat as he clenches his jaw. His eyes spew fire at Mal. Behind them, Carlos draws in a sharp breath. Mal's fists clench as her side as she draws a deep, steadying breath.

"Al, why did you come to this school?" Mal whispers.

"For an education." Al spits.

"Were you aware before you arrived that we had been invited to Auradon?"

"No."

"Did you attempt to physically harm Jay?"

"No."

"Did you want to?"

"Yes." The word is growled through his teeth.

"Did you attempt to mentally and or emotionally harm Jay?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"By trying to separate him from all of you, especially Carlos." He narrows his eyes and adds the next bit willingly. "I'd made the mistake when I arrived to think that you and Princess Blue over there were innocent just as Carlos was. I thought the two of you had overcome your disadvantageous background; that you were above your lowly background. I was wrong. You are monsters just like Jay."

"What did you do to try and separate him and Carlos?" Mal hisses, her fists clenching. Behind her Evie takes a step forward, the camera lowering, but Mal holds up a hand at her without looking.

"I got Chad to goad him into insulting Carlos after Tourney practice. Then I went after Carlos and comforted him after making sure Jay wouldn't follow, promising Jay I'd look after him. Then when I got to Carlos, I didn't even have to say the whole spiel I'd prepared about how Jay was horrible for him and how he deserved better, he had a breakdown all on his own. Then I got to comfort him and become his new hero, and earned his trust. After that I went to find Jay while Carlos was asleep and told Jay exactly what I thought of him, and warned him to stay away from Carlos. Then, today, when I knew Jay would be on the lookout for Carlos, I knew I had to act fast to get him to get the point, so I got Carlos alone in their room, knowing Jay would return eventually, and had Abby watch the door. She told me when Jay was coming, and I made my move. I knew seeing Carlos in the arms of another would break him." An evil glimmer enters his eye, a disgustingly proud look. Jay leans back against the door, his hands over his mouth as tears silently slide down his cheeks.

Mal and Evie step forward together, their fists clenching and murder on their faces. However, surprisingly, Carlos speaks up.

"Stop." His voice is silent as he steps forward, his eyes on his friends, soft and pleading. Mal and Evie waver before nodding and stepping back. Mal's heart quivers along with her body, aching with her entire being to punish the boy in front of her for causing such pain in her friends.

Then Carlos steps forward, and a slow smacking sound rings out through the room. Everyone stares in shock as Carlos's hard, closed off face as he stares at a very surprised Al, whose cheek is slowly reddening.

Al's eyes are wide as he stares at Carlos.

"Not you." Al whispers. "You were the innocent one in all of this. How could you do that to me? They're the ones that have hurt you, caused you pain! They're villains!"

"No." Carlos says quietly, though his voice is as hard as steel. "The only villain I see in here is you."

"Do you have anything you'd like to ask him, Carlos?" Mal whispers gently, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Carlos looks at Al seriously, his lips downturned. He looks tired as he contemplates her offer.

"Was I just a means to an end for you?" He asks finally.

Al hesitates. "I thought I was protecting you. But for the most part…yes."

"What about Chad?"

Al's eyebrow raises. "That little bitch? Oh he was easy, once I realized his little puppy-dog crush on me, he became very useful. Once he was in my bed, he was willing to do anything I wanted." Al's lips pull up in a sharp grin, his eyes gleaming.

Evie feels sick, and Carlos's face is sad.

"What else? Who else have you hurt?"

"Well, it's a loose definition of the word 'who' but that stupid mutt over there got in my way one to many times." Al says, his teeth gritted. He looks at Dude with a disgusted face. Dude swings his head around and growls low in his throat at Al and Abby takes another swipe at him. Dude turns back to snarling at the monkey.

Evie gasps, her hand that isn't holding her phone going up to cover her mouth.

"You're sick." Mal hisses.

Al doesn't answer, as it wasn't posed as a question.

"I think that's all we need." Mal finally whispers. She places a gentle hand on Carlos's shoulder. "Carlos?"

"Yeah." Carlos mutters, not taking his eyes off Al. "We're done here."


End file.
